Friday, December 28, 2012

As with every year, only things that I tried for the first time that year are eligible. So a slice at My Little Pizzeria, a Double-Double, tacos at La Estrella, or a turkey dip from Philippe's are all ineligible, even though in most cases they are the equal of anything here. (I was tempted to add the beignets from Cafe du Monde in New Orleans - they would have been a contender for the #1 spot - but I had eaten them a decade ago, and rules are rules.)

#20: Turkey Burger with Cilantro Chimichurri

Shortly after moving to Brooklyn, I discovered Paisanos. I have yet to purchase something from there that I did not love. Most items end up being the best of their kind that I have ever had. This turkey burger was no exception, and the garlic and cilantro chimichurri that I made was a wonderful complement.

#19 SPICY CHICKEN SANDWICH at CHICK-FIL-A

The standard by which all fast food sandwiches should be measured.

#18 LOBSTER ROLL at IZAKAYA ON SMITH

In June, my brother and his crew showed up in Brooklyn to build a set for a reality TV show - actually, it has occurred now so I can tell you, it was for the season finale of The Amazing Race - and we all went out to dinner at Izakaya on Smith. I ordered many things, and most were good, but this was by far my favorite. I often say something melts in my mouth, though really that's just an expression. But these sushi rolls actually felt like they were melting on my tongue.

#17: WATERMELON CUPCAKE at CRUMBS

The frosting on this thing actually tasted like watermelon. A perfect dessert on a hot summer evening.

#16 LONGADOG at MAHARLIKA (DEKALB MARKET)

Over the summer I had the longanisa at Maharlika, diced and served over rice. It was good, but the sausage was a touch fatty and something was missing. Around Labor Day, I accompanied Fritos and Foie Gras to Dekalb Market, and she ordered the longadog: the longanisa on a bun with pickled carrots and scallions and a garlicky sauce. She gave me a bite and it was much, much better than the way I'd previously eaten the sausage. It either wasn't as fatty or the taste of fat disappeared amongst the veggies and bread. Just outstanding this way.

#15 LUMP CRAB AND LOBSTER CREOLE at BLUE-EYED CRAB GRILL

The Blue Eyed Crab in Plymouth, MA - one of the best meals I've had all year, one of the prettiest locations, and unequivocally the worst service. But this is a rundown of items I ate, not restaurant experiences, and this lobster and crab mix in a creole sauce was outstanding.

#14 "THE BACK ABBEY" BURGER at, well, THE BACK ABBEY

I'd heard about this burger for quite some time. My brother assured me it was great, and he is someone who rarely eats burgers. So we headed out there for lunch one day just a short time before I moved away. It was one of the five best restaurant burgers I have ever had: perfectly cooked (to my liking) beef, aged gouda, mustard aioli, caramelized onions, crispy bacon, and delicious greens on a soft bun.

The shrimp themselves were wonderful, but combined with the mustard and white wine sauce - I am truly baffled about how to make it - it made them the second-best shrimp I had all year. Speaking of which...

#12 FRIED SHRIMP & REMOULADE

I've made lots of different kinds of fried shrimp in my life, but these - made with Zatarain's "seasoned shrimp-fri" - were the best I have ever made. Also killer was the remoulade: creole mustard, local Brooklyn pickles, and a few other items.

#11 GARLICKY CARNITAS CHIMICHANGAS

I did not have anyone with whom I could watch college football games this fall, but that had one advantage: I could dedicate more energy to making whatever I wanted to eat as football snacks. These chimichangas may have been the most time-consuming thing I cooked, but they were also almost the best: slow-cooked pork in garlic sauce, shredded and tucked into tortillas with cheese and onion, then fried crisp.

#10 QUESO FUNDIDO at ROCIO'S MOLES DE LOS DIOSES

Oily and salty in the way that the best queso fundido always is, the chorizo, onions, and touch of chipotle - not too strong - made this the best version of the dish that I have had in at least a few years.

#9 "FIRE SNOW" ROLL at B.A.D. SUSHI

Shrimp tempura and spicy crab with jalapeño, cilantro, and seared white tuna. I am sure at some point over the last decade (since I started loving sushi) I have had a better roll, but I sure as hell can't think of one at the moment.

#8 SZECHWAN SPICY BEEF at CHANG'S GARDEN

One afternoon in early March, I stopped by Chang's Garden in Arcadia for lunch with Bryce and little Lucy. I ordered the Spicy Szechwan Beef, despite the waitress's warning that it was "really spicy." It wasn't, though after a few minutes I did feel a light sweat breaking out on my forehead. But the spiciness or lack thereof didn't bother me one bit, because it was absolutely delicious.

#7 STEAKHOUSE BURGER POTATO SKINS

The best of the Football Eats, even better than the chimichangas. I cooked a brisket/short rib blend of beef, crumbled it and added it to baked potato halves, with crispy bacon, blue cheese and steak sauce. I've made dozens of different kinds of potato skins in my life; these were probably the best.

#6 FRIED CHICKEN BISCUIT at CHEEKY'S SANDWICHES (DEKALB MARKET)

I definitely miss Dekalb Market, that collection of repurposed shipping containers housing shops and food stands. I ate quite a few good things there, but my favorite were these biscuits: a chicken piece that was battered and fried right before my eyes, then placed on a warm, flaky roll, with red cabbage slaw and gravy.

#5 COCHINITA PIBIL at PAPATZUL

I never wrote about an autumn dinner I ate at Papatzul, and I don't plan to in much detail. The service was unfriendly and glacier-slow. The restaurant was unnecessarily dark and extremely loud. And it provided me the single-worst thing I ate in 2012: their take on churros, which were the size of licorice vines, burnt crisp and falling apart like charcoal embers. But the cochinita pibil I had as an entree was just awesome: citrusy, a touch sour, with sauteed corn and assorted veggies. It was the best cochinita I have had in years.

#4 CHILEAN SEA BASS AND LOBSTER RISOTTO at RED BRICK TAVERN

When my parents were visiting in July, we spent a few days in the Hudson Valley and went to dinner with Elizabeth and her parents at Red Brick Tavern, a restaurant her dad had been raving about for two years. Elizabeth ordered one of that evening's specials: the Chilean Sea Bass. We both agreed that it was simply perfect, that nothing could have been done to improve upon the fish. I had several bites; I do not remember ever having better non-fried fish. And the lobster risotto was without question the best risotto I have ever had.

#3 STEAK SANDWICHES

Back at the beginning of the year in South Pasadena, I had a few friends over for dinner one night. I grilled flat iron steaks and sliced them thinly, then placed them on soft, Armenian rolls, with arugula tossed in olive oil, blue cheese, and onions that Tracie had caramelized. They were the best steak sandwiches I have ever made.

#2 ROSEMARY FRIES WITH SUN-DRIED TOMATO KETCHUP at STRONG PLACE

The fries themselves were wonderful: crispy, hot Belgian fries. But each new wrinkle pushed them a little higher: 1) the wonderful aroma of fresh rosemary. 2) A seasoning that was intense with flavor yet not too salty - which almost never happens. 3) Several whole cloves of roasted garlic, buried within the bucket like little depth charges. And 4) The house-made, sundried tomato ketchup, as good as any ketchup I have ever eaten.

#1 BLACK GARLIC MAYO BLUE CHEESE PEPPERCORN BURGER

I've made some damn good burgers this year after discovering the short rib/brisket patties at Paisanos. But this was my magnum opus: Empire Mayonnaise Company's "black garlic mayo," caramelized onions, A.1. peppercorn steak sauce, and blue cheese.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

I saw this package in the freezer. There was no label and no price tag. What the hell, I figured. I noticed on the receipt after I'd paid that it was eight bucks - not exactly expensive, especially in this neighborhood, but the most expensive item I bought on this trip. I hoped they wouldn't be mostly filler.

I let the package sit in the fridge overnight to defrost.

About four minutes on each side in a frying pan with a half-inch of oil.

While there was definitely a lot of filler, there was more shrimp and lobster than I was expecting. I was pleased with the taste. I would not call these a great value, like some of the items from TJ's, but I would get them again.

Although to be honest, the lemon & chive sauce alone was worth a couple bucks. It came in a little plastic pouch, which I heated under running hot water while the cakes fried. At first I just added a drop to each bite, but by the end I was dredging the pieces through the sauce. Delicious.

GUMMY BEARS

The gummy bears were yummy, if you like gummy bears. I wish I could be more effusive, but I just don't know what to say. They did not taste stale. That's about it.

CANDY-COATED LICORICE

Now these guys I really liked. I haven't had Good & Plenty in a long time, but these were more colorful and more flavorful than I ever remember them being. I would not get the gummy bears again, but I would certainly get these again. Especially with the 99-cent price tag.

TURKEY GOBBLER WRAP

I saw this back in November - I'm not sure if it's still there - and I was in a Thanksgiving mood. Plus I love roast turkey.

As is usually the case with TJ's wraps, it's a lot higher in calories than you might expect. Even without the sauce, it's more than 500 calories. (A single-patty hamburger from Five Guys checks in at the same number of calories as this turkey wrap. It just doesn't seem right.)

Still, I really liked it, and I don't usually like TJ's wraps. The "festive" dressing didn't really add anything, and it certainly wasn't festive, but I liked the flavors of the turkey, stuffing, and cranberry cream cheese.

HOT & SWEET MUSTARD

I am usually reluctant to try things that market themselves as "hot & sweet" or "sweet & sour," because the dominant flavor is almost always sweet. But Trader Joe's has actually added some heat to this mustard. It will never be confused with a Chinese hot mustard, but it definitely has some bite.

I ate Elizabeth's one-and-a-half pieces of potato pancake from Teresa's the other day, and the mustard was a better complement than either apple sauce or sour cream.

I also cooked a little frozen chicken patty and put it on an English muffin with the mustard, which was another great combination.

CHICKEN CHOW MEIN

For all of my adult life, I stayed away from chow mein. Noodles just don't do it for me. Then, three years ago at lunch in Alhambra with my friend Zach, his sister Jenny ordered chow mein. It was outstanding. I still don't eat it much, but I am not afraid of it. So I decided to try Trader Joe's take.

You add all the contents to a pan, cook it for a while, then add the defrosted sauce.

It was just fine, and I ate it all over the course of two meals. But it wasn't anything I would recommend, nor would I eat it again. The noodles and sauce were both boring. I am not opposed to eating good chow mein at a restaurant (though lo mein is much more popular where I live now), but I won't be making frozen chow mein ever again.

PRETZEL STICK

I did not have high expectations for this one. The bag was sitting on the shelf open, so I figured the end might be stale. And it was only 99 cents. Trader Joe's doesn't bake their bread on sight, so who knew how far this had traveled or how long ago it had been baked?

I may have caught lightning in a bottle here, but this mini-roll was just awesome. Slightly crunchy on the outside like a pretzel, perfectly soft and doughy inside. I almost never eat bread by itself, but I ate most of this just like you see above, it was that good.

But I also made a snack with a piece of cheese and some spicy mustard. It was great, too.

A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA

I cooked Trader Joe's tempura chicken, one of my favorite items in the whole store, and tossed it with Hoboken Eddie's "Merlie's Magic" spicy orange-pineapple sauce (which is not sold at TJ's). Of all the different versions of this tempura chicken I have made - probably 25 - this was the best. The sweet, very spicy sauce was a wonderful complement to the chicken.

Hopefully Trader Joe's will come out with some new products in the new year and I can start trying them to give you a big TJ's post within the next few weeks. We'll see...